10 Oct 2012 - At Yeongju Punggi Ginseng Festival 영주 풍기 인삼 축제

I took the taxi at 10.25am and reached the festive ground at 10.39am.
Taxi fare was by meter and it was KRW13000.
Take note of this junction.
This was the place where I took my shuttle bus to the ginseng farm.

The temperature was so different from Seoul.
It was so so cold......brrrrgggghhhh....

I was excited becos I finally reach here! 

Herbs? 

오미자  五味子！They are also known as five flavour berry.
I like this and use them to make tea called 오미자 차 omija tea.
I saw a lot 오미자 차 during this trip.  

Oh, this is so familiar cos its very common in Singapore.  菊花茶 Chrysanthemum Tea.

Hmmm....kitchen utensil were also available in a ginseng festival.
Where is my ginseng.....There were many stalls but I did not check out each and every one of them.

As I walked around the festive ground, I also keep a lookout for anyone whom I can ask about the shuttle bus to the nearby ginseng farm.  The ginseng farm was the main reason why I came here. I read that there will be a shuttle bus somewhere around but KTO didn't know the location of the bus stop. I came across a young girl who was tending a stall and was glad that she can speak a little bit of English. She was not sure about the  location and time of the shuttle bus, but she helped me to ask her 선배 sunbae. The shuttle bus will come every hour. It was 11.05am when I was talking to her, so I missed the shuttle bus which comes at 11am. The next shuttle bus will come at 12pm. I misplaced the map which she gave me, so I couldn't provide a good direction to the shuttle bus stop...Sorry for that. I need to cross the road to get to the shuttle bus stop. It was somewhere near the junction/bridge where I came from.  Since I have some time, I decided to go to the nearby ginseng market. Yup, I obtained the direction from the young lady as well.  I have to cross the road to get to the ginseng market.  Its about 7 mins walk from the festive ground.

They looked like ginger....but they also don't look like ginger to me...

Wowww...there's even a magic show!

I went to the opposite stalls.

Interesting..

I hoped it won't rain...
아줌마 and 아저씨 have yet to enjoy the performance.

At last, I saw ginseng...
I like ginseng and that's why I came for the festival.  

I wonder what does the numbers stand for?
Age of the ginseng?  I don't know.

These pretty flowers were beside a rubbish dump.  What a waste...

Are they making 떡 Tteok? 

오!  Something caught my attention!

인삼족발 Ginseng Jokbal??
Everything involves ginseng ㅋㅋㅋ
This is rather interesting. I have not tried Jokbal before because it looks fattening.
I don't eat this in Chinese dishes as well but I knew many people loves it.

What is he cooking?

Fried ginseng tempura.
Argghhh.....I had to give this a miss again because my throat was not feeling good.
I missed the chance to try it during my trip to Jinhae earlier this year....

A lot of food stalls and fried ginseng tempura was the common dish.
I was hoping to see something different.

이게 뭐야?
They looked yummy ^^

I would buy if there's someone to share with me...

虽然是路边的野花,但它们真的好美哦.

10 Oct 2012 - Learning experience for my journey to 영주 풍기 인삼 축제

Back to my trip updates. The itinerary for the day was a trip to Punggi Ginseng Festival and a visit to the nearby ginseng farm 인삼 농장 & Ginseng Market 인삼 시장 ^^  This year, the festival commenced from 6 Oct 2012 till 14 Oct 2012.



Woke up early to catch the bus to Punggi. My breakfast, garlic loaf from Paris Baguette which I bought last night before heading back to my hotel. Not very nice cos its tough. Maybe its becos its left overnight.

I took the subway to Gangbyeon Station for Dong Seoul Bus Terminal. It was drizzling but surprisingly not very cold. I wanted to catch the bus that departs for Punggi at 7.30am and I managed to reach Dong Seoul Bus Terminal at about 7.12am. I was dumbfounded when the counter lady told me there is no bus to Punggi.  Huhh???

Which smart alec put this link bus schedule online??? I was searching for various ways to get to Punggi and came across the web page. So happy when I stumbled upon the web page and even thought it was a marvellous web page! I even send the link to KTO to confirm if it was updated. The reply was yes...................................

The counter lady told me there is only a bus to Yeongju Bus Terminal 영주버스터미널 and it will take 2 hours to reach Yeongju. Okay fine. I read about getting to Punggi via Yeongju.  I asked her what bus should I take from Yeongju to Punggi.  She repiled,"모르겠어."  I don't blame her since Korea is so big.  I decided to get to Yeongju and see how things go from there. Although I knew Yeongju is not very far from Punggi but I couldn't help feeling uncertain. 

My ticket to Yeongju Bus Terminal.  The bus will depart at 7.45am.
 Go to the washroom if you need to becos there is no toilet break along the journey.

Punggi Ginseng Festival!  Wait up for me.

Look for the platform.  I had to go to platform 18 for my bus.  

There you are.

Sometimes the bus may not be parked at where they are supposed to park. There is usually an 아저씨 ahjussi around whom you can check with. Just show him your ticket and he will direct you to the correct bus bay. The bus driver will also check your ticket when you board the bus.  I asked the bus driver how long it will take to reach Yeongju. He said 2 hours 30 mins. Hmmmm..the counter lady told me 2 hours...but I think I trust the bus driver.  The bus driver was so nice. He even said to me, "Have a nice trip!  Yes. He said that in English ^^

Spacious seatings arrangement and comfy seats as well.

안녕 Seoul.  I will see you this late afternoon again  ^^  

Reached Yeongju.  Can you see those apple trees??  This was my first time to see real apple trees so I was really excited ^^   Okay, call me a country bumpkin whatever. 상관 없어.

I read about Yeongju Apple Festival is somewhere in October and I think Yeongju is famous for apples. Now I know why I had to take a bus to Yeongju instead of Punggi ㅎㅎㅎ

I still want to upload the picture even though it was blur...

Filled with joy and excitement ㅎㅎㅎ

I wonder what agriculture is this  

사과를 먹고 싶어!

Apples everywhere...

My bus left Dong Seoul Bus Terminal at 7.45am sharp and reached Yeongju Bus terminal at 10.15am.  

Erhhh...What should I do now??
I went to the counter to check whether there's any bus to Punggi.
The taxi stand was located behind the bus terminal as shown by the red arrow.  

If anyone needs to know...

I was just trying my luck to see if there's any bus to Punggi 풍기.  Guess what?  There was really bus to Punggi! The ticket cost only KRW1500.  However, the next bus departing for Punggi will only arrive at 11.05am and the bus journey will take about 20mins.  Oh dear, I have to wait for another hour. I bought the bus ticket but regretted cos I didn't want to waste my time waiting for the next bus. I need to catch the Mugungwha train which will depart at 2.15pm for Cheongnyangni. There was no train from Punggi to Seoul or Yongsan but only Cheongnyangni.

Since a bus journey to Punggi will take 20mins, I supposed it will not be too expensive to take a taxi there.  Hence, I decided to take a taxi to Punggi.  It was 10.25am when I took the taxi.

Many taxis in the queue..